Vucciria Market

Sicilians can spend hours discussing food, debating the sweetness of a tomato or the best way to fillet a sardine. So head to Palermo’s Vucciria market, the concentration of this most important ingredient of local life. Among the hollering stallholders and narrow souk-style alleyways, you’ll be buffeted between the sights and smells of seasonal produce: spicy peppers, writhing snails, blood oranges, salty sea urchins, prickly pear fruit and Etna walnuts.

Be adventurous and try some street food like pani c’a meusa – calf spleen served in bread with grated cheese and lemon – gritty in texture, but it tastes better than it sounds.